bonemonkey reviews ZIPPERED FLESH 2

ZIPPERED FLESH 2, now available at Amazon.com.

Zippered Flesh 2

Weldon Burge, Editor

Smart Rhino Publications

ISBN: 978-0984787647

February, 2013; $14.95 PB

Reviewed by “bonemonkey”

The second book in this gruesome collection picks up where the first book left off … plenty of vile and nasty stories where events usually take a turn for the painful, and generally things do not end well. I’d say that it starts off stronger than the first book, with two of my favourites in the collection to get the old ball rolling.

In the first, a bodybuilder crosses way over the line of just how far he is willing to go in order to pile on a few more pounds. A nice story which keeps you guessing, as the tables turn towards a shift in power. The second story is verging on perfect. When fantasy becomes reality, thing are not always guaranteed to go according to plan, and sometimes the only way to find this out is the hard way. Great story which stays within the realms of possibility while at the same time goes so far out there and beyond.

Other stories which I really liked were “Skin Deep” (all parents of a teenager should read this), “We’re All Mad Here” (we’ve all seen them, people who try to look like their pets–anyone considered how the pets feel about all this?), “Babydaddy” (male pregnancy with a malignant twist), and lastly “Clockwork” (people that spend lots of time in a shed are always up to no good).

The stories are:

“The Modern Adonis” by Bryan Hall – A bodybuilder must make sacrifices in order to achieve the perfect weight. (9/10)

“Taut” by Shaun Meeks – A woman is dangerously hooked on an idea which leaves her hanging. (10/10)

“The Hunger Artist” by Lisa Mannetti – An old lady chews over an ordeal she and her sister had many years ago. (7/10)

“Skin Deep” by Carson Buckingham – A young girl is willing to use every trick in the book to achieve the perfect face. (9/10)

“The Sun-Snake” by Christine Morgan – A boy wins the honour of becoming a God, but it also has a sting in it’s tail. (8/10)

“Knowledge” by Kate Monroe – A man undergoes an operation to get perfect vision, but he hadn’t forseen the side effects. (8/10)

“Prosthetics” by Daniel I. Russell – An appointment doesn’t go to plan, when a doctor is not being quite herself. (7/10)

“After Darque” by M.L. Roos – An undercover detective begins to lose himself (piece by piece) while on his latest job. (7/10)

“The Affair of the Jade Dragon” by Rick Hudson – While gangland killings sweep the city, a detective struggles to trust his inner voice. (7/10)

“The Future of Flesh” by J.M. Reinbold – A man takes the chance to improve his appearance, but the doctor has yeti another idea. (8/10)

“We’re All Mad Here” by E.A. Black – When a woman makes changes to get closer to her pets, she wishes that she had a get out claws. (9/10)

“Seeds” by L.L. Soares – A man has no choice but to grow to like his work. (7/10)

“Perfection” by Doug Blakeslee – When an experiment gets out of control, a man is sent in to terminate it. (7/10)

“Underneath” by Kealan Patrick Burke – A boy is forced into going on a hot date, but finds that appearances can be deceptive. (8/10)

“The Perfect Size” by A.P. Sessler – A man goes abroad to meet his new wife, but she is not quite what he was expecting. (8/10)

“Piper at the Gates of Dawn” by David Benton & W.D. Gagliani – A doctor has a rather odd mental addiction which he needs to get out of his system. (7/10)

“BabyDaddy” by Jonathan Templar – A father to be wants to experience pregnancy for himself. (9/10)